Spike's War
by Acathala
Summary: Spike must prevent the End Of All Demons


SUMMARY Set between S3 and S4 Buffy, after Drusilla leaves Spike for the second time. Spike must prevent a ritual from taking place.

DISTRIBUTION Give me your website address and I'll consider it.

EMAIL acathala26@hotmail.com

**Spike's War**

Marco was pleased. It had been a good night's hunting. The pack of vampires he led, had just finished their second victim, and had started their third. Tonight had been fun. Suddenly the door to the lair burst open. A bleached blond vampire swaggered in as if he owned the place. Marco growled to let him know he wasn't welcome. The blond looked at him with false concern. "I'd see some one about that throat. Sounds like you're coming down with something nasty." He walked to the centre of the room, taking in his surroundings. "Nice place you got here, needs more chains though." He paused a minute. "Right, who's the big man here?" Marco wondered what he wanted with Ricky. The blond sighed as he realised the stupid wankers thought he actually meant the tallest man. "Big man? The boss. There that wasn't too hard to work out, was it?" The blond grinned. Marco had enough of the arrogant bastard. "I am the boss here. Get out, before I rip you apart." The blond studied Marco calmly and then started to laugh. "You the boss? You're having a laugh you are. Now I'm taking control of this little nest here. Any questions?" Marco snarled, if the blond bastard thought he could just waltz in and take control, he could think again. He charged the blond, while the others watched to see how it would turn out. Much to his surprise the blond deftly avoided his charge and tripped him up. As he fell down to the concrete, he could feel the blond rain several solid blows on him. As Marco ate concrete, the blond surveyed the room with a menacing grin. "Any other questions?" Piteously Marco struggled to his feet. He was quickly kicked back down. "If you keep asking the same question, you're going to keep getting the same answer." The blond vampire said ironically. The blond kept kicking him in until Marco had the sense to stay down. The blond then leaned against a wall and started to light a cigarette. "Got a bit of a job for you." The blond told the assembled vampires. 

"Who the hell are you?" Marco asked fearfully.

The blond had the grin of the devil. "You can call me Spike."

Captain van der Nils walked calmly with his employer; the Wiccan called Lucinda Monet. She needed constant reassuring that there was more than enough security around the former military base. The witch was jabbering on about some minor security arrangements. Nils had learned to let her speak; she finished quicker that way. It was easy to pretend he was listening to her. All he really had to do was smile gravely and nod every so often. He studied her calmly. If it weren't for her salt and pepper hair, he would have guessed she was in her twenties. Those icy azure eyes merely hinted at the power that lay within her. He suddenly realised she had stopped talking and was waiting expectantly. She must want a reply.  Clearing his throat he spoke. "This has been already done Miss Monet."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Sometimes I think you don't listen to me. And how many times I told you to call me Lucy?"

van der Nils smiled coldly. "Eleven, Miss Monet."

She ignored the sarcasm and asked a question. "Do you have a first name Captain?"

"Yes, but I don't use it." He was caught a little off-guard by her question. 

"Then what do people call you then?" She pressed him

"Just… Nils." He was surprised at this, not once in the three months they spent together, had she asked that.

She smiled at him. "And now you must call me Lucy, Nils!"

He nodded. "As you wish."

She then changed the subject. "I'm concerned the… creatures may interfere."

He looked at her oddly. "Creatures? Oh so that's euphemism we're using. Of course they'll try to interfere if they can. You don't expect them to sit and watch, do you? But we'll be prepared. Demons are about naturally co-operative as sharks. We shouldn't have any problems."

She looked him squarely in the eyes. "I hope you're right. For humanity's sake."

Life for Sean Kilpatrick was looking up. The former IRA man had to leave Northern Ireland in a hurry. That face of his was too well known to the British authorities. He had also managed to upset the IRA hierarchy over a misunderstanding about money. Sean and his brother Liam had been taking more than they thought he should taking. Still that was all in the past now. Liam was in the Caribbean and Sean was in some bar in America with enough money to live comfortably for a few months. He was chatting up some lass in the corner. "…and that's when I slapped her rump and talked her down to half price!" The Irish man laughed raucously. The redhead girl looked at Sean and forced a laugh. Sean hadn't noticed her clenching her fists throughout his 'stories'. Fortunately for him she had orders not to hurt him. Much, that is. She decided it was time for them to leave. Hating every moment, she wrapped her arms around him. "Want to come back for coffee?" In that come-hither voice she detested. Sean leered at her. "Aye I can tell you want a real man." She smiled, filing that one away for when he wasn't needed anymore. She led him out the bar.

Outside was a fairly warm night. Sean had his arm tight round her waist. He hadn't even bothered to ask her name. She was ignoring his attempts to look down her dress at her cleavage, and she was tolerating his bawdy jokes, only because she knew she wouldn't have to soon.  They meandered down the road, she was leading him through a secluded area of town, where nobody would be likely to come to his aid. She stopped suddenly; Sean stumbled on couple of steps before he stopped. "Here. Let's do it here." She said. Sean leered at her. "Alright! Give it to me baby!" She smiled as she knew he completely misunderstood what was going to happen to him. "It'll be my pleasure." She grabbed him in a vice-like grip. Her face morphed into her true vampire face. Sean screamed and struggled futilely against her grip. She stuck her fangs into his neck and started drinking. She briefly considered ignoring the rest of her orders and draining him dry. Then she remembered whom she was working for. He wasn't somebody you disobeyed. With a sigh she opened a vein and forced the barely alive Irishman to drink. "Yeah you men are all same, you just lie back and let the woman do all work." She said sardonically. She stood waiting for the Irishman to rise as one the undead. When he did start to rise, she whacked him full in the face. "My name is Alyssa, you cretin. Two fucking hours and you couldn't even ask my name! You are so lucky that the boss wants you in one piece!"

Sean felt a momentarily bit of fear. "You're not from the IRA are you?"

She laughed in his face, her vampire face still visible. "Does it fucking look like I'm from the IRA you stupid bastard?"

Relived, Sean asked another question. "So we're not…"

She cut him off. "Only in your wet dreams. Right you're coming with me to see the boss."

He felt a twinge of defiance. "What if I refuse?"

"Your funeral. He isn't exactly the sort you want mad at you." Alyssa stared him in his eyes, wondering if he'd be stupid enough to try running away.

Sean knew he really didn't have a choice. "Alrighty then. Take me to your leader." 

Alyssa nodded and started to leave. Sean had a sudden suspicion it would have been better if the IRA had found him. Sighing he followed Alyssa. 

Kruloc had been tracking his prey for an hour now. He had followed him through the winding streets effortlessly. The businessman was totally unaware of the demon's presence. Kruloc sighed. It was too easy now. He couldn't remember the last time he had a real challenge. Sure the money was good, but that wasn't the thing he craved the most. He needed to feel his abilities tested. He could have completed his contract at any time, but he had delayed the kill, in the hope things would get interesting. It hadn't. He decided to finish it now. He walked up to the man calmly, and shot several spikes from his arms into the man's chest. The man didn't even scream as he fell down dead on the sidewalk, a frozen expression of surprise on his face. Kruloc stared contemptuously down at his easy prey and then started to walk away. He froze as he heard a voice from behind him.

"Well that wasn't that much fun. Over too quick for my taste." Kruloc faced the direction the voice came from. He could see a blond man, that he knew instinctively was more than he seemed. Kruloc spoke aggressively. "How long have you been watching me human?"

"First of all I'm not human." To prove his point, the blond man morphed into his vampire face. "And secondly I'm been following you since you left that bloody awful motel, where you've been staying."

Kruloc laughed contemptuously at that. "You're not that good vampire." 

The blond vampire merely smiled coldly at Kruloc. "As you left you were eating an apple and carrying a newspaper under your left arm. You disposed of both into a heavily vandalised bin, when you saw your target. Did I miss anything?" The vampire's smile became a grin.

Kruloc looked at the vampire with a newfound respect. He was as good as he said he was. "W hat's your name vampire?" He asked.

"They call me Spike." The vampire replied.

Spike! Kruloc knew the name and was even more impressed. Spike was reputed to have killed two slayers. He wondered what he wanted with him. "So what do you want Spike?"

"I've got a job you might be interested in. None of this bollocks you've been doing for anyone else. I think you're the right demon for the job. You look like the kind to relish a challenge. Course I can't guarantee your chances. "

Kruloc smiled grimly, he was beginning to warm to the vampire. "Tell me more about this job. I might accept. I might not." He tried hard to conceal his excitement at the prospect of a real challenge from the vampire.

Spike grinned back at Kruloc. He knew he had the demon hook, line and sinker now. Time to reel him in. So Spike began to tell Kruloc all about his role he expected him to play. Kruloc listened on, fascinated by the job. He only interrupted Spike twice with questions to clarify what was in his own mind. After about three-quarters of an hour, they were finally finished.

Spike lit a cigarette and started to smoke it. "So will you do it?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Spike." Kruloc began. "It's going to be a pleasure doing killing with you." He smiled at Spike, eager for his first challenge of his abilities in a long time.

"We'd better get a move on then." With that Spike and Kruloc left for his lair.

Back at his lair Spike spotted Alyssa. "Did you get the IRA man?"

She pointed to a dishevelled man beside her. "Refunds not given." She added.

Spike ignored her and spoke to Sean. "I hope you're good with explosives. If you're not, then I suggest you learn to be good really quickly." When Sean didn't answer Spike looked closely at him and sighed. "Alyssa, he's sodding drunk. What the hell has he been drinking? He'd better be sober before we go into the meeting tomorrow. And when we go in on the job."

She clasped her hands defensively. "So what, you want to baby-sit him now? He might have an 'accident'."

Spike simply smiled and grabbed Alyssa's arm. He started twisting it. "Alyssa love, he's got skills I need. If there's so much as a scratch on him, I'll hold you responsible. Afterwards you can kill him to your heart's content. Do I make myself clear? Or am I going to have to twist this bloody arm off?"

Alyssa grimacing from the pain merely nodded. Spike released her arm. "Good girl. Make sure you both get some rest. Big night tomorrow."

"What's so big you need practically a demon army?" Alyssa suddenly demanded.

Spike merely laughed. "Tomorrow night Alyssa. You'll find out then." With that Spike walked away

The meeting place was large, it needed to be. The place was crammed full of demons that Spike had persuaded one way or another to join him. The demons were mostly vampires whose nests Spike took control of, but there were several other kinds of demons there as well. Most were chatting nervously about why Spike had brought them all together. Only a small handful knew the real reason why they were there. Spike walked in. Almost immediately a hush fell over the hall, as they all stopped and stared at Spike. He grinned at all the attention. He strode over and stood on a raised platform. Spike surveyed the room calmly. Next to him stood Kruloc, who stood expressionlessly at ease. To his other side was the demon who set all this in motion, a Vorbis demon named Vr'al. Spike started to speak to the assembled demons. "Bet you're wondering why you're all here. I'll let the man himself explain." Spike motioned the Vorbis demon to come forward.

Amongst the demon world the Vorbis are renowned as scholars and sorcerers. If you had to research a ritual, then you asked a Vorbis. They usually had or could find information about was happening in the world. The Vorbis demon had seemed frail and weak, with his skin like melted wax. Until you looked into Vr'al's eyes. They burned with a raging intensity

. 

Vr'al walked serenely forward. He started to speak with that low rasping voice, which so typified the Vorbis demons. "Greetings fellow demons. I have news that affects us all. The humans intend to wipe us all out!" From the back of the hall one of the demons started to laugh. It was a low barking laughter, from which it took several moments to recover. "Of course they're trying to wipe us out. They've been trying to do that from the beginning of time. Want to be specific? There's a lot of them, like cockroaches only not as friendly!"

Vr'al continued, unfazed by the interruption. "There is a group of humans who intend to invoke the Cha Noken ritual. Cha Noken, translated from the Garen tongue, means End of all Demons. This ritual will erase us from the plane of existence." 

"Except we're not going to let them." Spike added moving in front of Vr'al. 

The laughing demon spoke again. "Cha Noken?" It said contemptuously. "That old fairytale we use to frighten our young. I don't believe it."

Spike could feel the anger rising in him. "I don't care whether you believe as long as you obey me. This thing exists cause I say it exists. Besides there'll be humans to kill. Don't know about you but I'm always up for a bit of slaughter." There was a murmur of approval from the rest of the demons.

Spike straightened up. "Right this is my show now, I'm running things." One of the demons near the front sneered at Spike. "Why you vampire?" 

Spike smiled coldly at the demon. "Cause I'm the biggest badass in this room and you know it." The demon started to speak, caught the look in Spike's eyes, and sensibly shut up. Spike continued on. "Right. We know that the humans are holed up in the military base outside of town. Finding them is not a problem. Getting in will be the problem. Cause if we go in all guns blazing, they'll have everything locked up tighter than the crown jewels. Fortunately I have a cunning plan." Spike paused for a bit and took out a cigarette. He lit it, taking a couple of puffs. Out of the corner of his eye he could see trouble brewing.

A Fyarl demon was having words with a furry demon Spike didn't recognise. The words became a fistfight. The fistfight became a wrestling match. Spike sighed and stubbed out the cigarette. "Just what I need right now." He murmured under his breath. Spike walked calmly over to where the fight was, grabbed the two demons by the back of the neck, and then banged their heads together until they stopped fighting. "Right if you and Chewbacca are quite finished here, I'm going to say a couple of things." He let the Fyarl and the furry demon drop. "We're all going to have to co-operate. I'll just repeat that unfamiliar word, co-operate. Something that co-operate does not mean, beating each other to death rather than the humans. The next demons I see fighting each other, their arses will be kicked so bloody hard they won't be able to sit down for a month. Do I make myself clear?" Spike looked around and saw no dissenting voices amongst the demons. 

"Right my cunning plan." Spike paused as he took another drag on his cigarette. "We can't just barge in, and we all can't sneak in as there's too many of us." He paused again. He looked around the hall; all the demons were paying attention. He grinned inwardly to himself. If it's something he loved, it was being the centre of attention. He continued on. "So we're going to make a large distraction so big they can't ignore it." He pointed to Kruloc. "There's the man who'll cause it. Along with all the explosives that Irish git there will set up," Spike glared banefully at Sean, who without the influence of alcohol stared blankly out. Spike continued on. "Once they've set off the big bang, and all the humans are running are running in the wrong direction like headless chickens; that's when we smash in the front way."

Spike tossed away his cigarette and grinned. "This is Spike's war."

Lucy went over the security arrangements in her head. She kept having a strange feeling of impending disaster, which she couldn't seem to shake. She wanted to see Captain van der Nils, whom despite his coldness, she was attracted to. She got up and started to look for him. After checking his room she eventually found him in the cafeteria. She walked over to his table, noticing that they were the only ones there at this late hour. He looked up from his black coffee he was drinking. "Can't sleep either?"

"No, I keep worrying about the security. I have a bad feeling that something is going to happen tomorrow night."

He took another sip of coffee before replying. "There has been no sign of demonic activity. No reason to think it'll change. You should get some sleep."

Lucy smiled at him. "Can I talk with you a while?"

He looked back at her "Sure why not."

Lucy began slowly. "So what made you decide to become a demon hunter?"

Nils started at that. Lucy cut in hastily. "We don't have to discuss that if you don't want to."

Nils sighed softly. "No it's alright. It was a long time ago." He paused briefly and put down his coffee, then carried on. "It was the beginning of winter in Eindhoven, which was city of my birth. My fiancé and I were planning a spring wedding. Everything seemed perfect because we were so in love." He paused again. "It felt like the world existed just for us. It really did. Then one day my world shattered. Femke, my fiancé, disappeared. One night when she was out with her friends. She somehow became separated from them on the way home." Nils looked at Lucy square in the eyes. "I blame myself for that even though I know there was nothing I could have done."

Lucy started. "Nils there was nothing you could have done."

He spoke again. "Wait there's more."

"More?" Lucy asked.

"Oh yes there's more." He spoke now with a trace of bitterness. "I was convinced she was still alive long after even the police stopped looking for her. I became a familiar sight on the streets, showing strangers a photograph of her. Some recognised her. Most didn't. I followed every lead I got. But every one of them was a false dawn. It got to the point to where even I got discouraged. Until one night."

He stopped there. "What happened then?" Lucy asked slowly, not sure she wanted to know.

Nils continued on, his tone of bitterness replaced by one of sadness. "I saw her again. In one of these cheap bars. She was all over another man. I was so stunned I couldn't move. At first I didn't believe it was her. The Femke I knew wasn't that sort of girl. Even the way she was dressed was different. She looked like some prostitute." Nils closed his eyes as he continued. "Just when I had convinced myself I was mistaken, I saw her hand. It had the engagement ring I brought her. I knew it was the same one because I had it custom made for her. I watched her then in disbelief. She was still unaware of me. She eventually led the other man out. When I recovered I followed them out." He picked up his coffee and took a sip, ignoring the fact it had gone cold. He then carried on with his story. "I followed them into an alleyway. From where I stood it looked like they were making out. Until I saw the man's face. It was full of terror. I ran towards them. Femke turned to face me and let the man's dead body drop. When I saw her face I knew my love was lost to me. She had the face of a monster. What I didn't know then was that she had been changed into a vampire. She started to glide towards me, I couldn't move. It was like I was transfixed to the spot. She held me and was going to feed on me, when she stopped, like she had been repelled by something. Later I realised the crucifix I wore had saved my life. She left me then and disappeared into the night. I never saw her again. And that is the story of why I became a demon hunter."

Nils looked at Lucy then, with such sadness in his eyes. He started to weep openly, so Lucy hugged him, comforting him. Somehow their lips met and they started kissing. After a while Lucy led Nils to her room…

Spike was psyched. Tonight was the big one. He was seeing off Kruloc and his team, as they had to leave early to do their part of the plan. Spike nodded to Kruloc. "Good luck mate. I'll try to keep some humans alive for you." The Miquot demon merely nodded. Spike turned his attention to Kruloc's team. There was Sean, the demolition expert, a Fyarl demon who would be carrying the explosives, and Alyssa. She seemed to be furious at something Sean said which Spike had missed. He looked at her warningly. "Alyssa. Remember what I said." She looked at Spike and caught his mood. She calmed down a bit. He then turned to look at Sean. "And you, try and keep your trap shut and mind on the job."

Sean started. "You saying I can't do my job?

"I'm saying I don't want this job bollocksed up by some Irish wanker with a bigger mouth than brain." Spike replied.

"Spike, we should leave now." Kruloc said calmly.

Spike faced him. "Alright. See you at the party then." He watched them leave with a grin on his face.

Lucy felt euphoric as she stepped into the chamber where the Cha Noken ritual. Last night with Nils had been wonderful. She felt vitalised for the long ritual that lay ahead. It was important that the ritual was not interrupted as it required precise timing and actions. She felt sure that Nils would protect her from harm. Her acolytes entered the room and they began the Cha Noken, the End of All Demons.

Sean was cold and tired. "I don't see why we couldn't have taken a truck."

"Because we're trying to infiltrate the base. Trucks make noise. Noise and infiltration bad." Alyssa responded, her fists itching. She had been left alone with Sean and the Fyarl demon, whilst Kruloc was scouting ahead. They were finally near the base after what seemed an eternity of travelling on foot. She was thinking that if Kruloc didn't get back soon, then despite what Spike said, she would kill Sean. She hated him that much to risk disobeying Spike. Sean started talking again "Did I ever tell you about a girl I met in Dublin?" Alyssa started to look around for something to hit him with. 

Kruloc was concealed in some bushes near the perimeter of the base. From what he had seen, the guards were overconfident and careless. From watching the guards' patrol routine, he reckoned he would have about half an hour before a patrol was missed. There wasn't even fencing up here. He calmly waited for the next two-man patrol. Here they came, right on schedule. They were laughing and joking about something. Kruloc carefully took aim, preparing to shoot spikes out his arms. Unfortunately he couldn't get a clear shot at the second one. He was going to have to shoot the first one down to get a better shot at the second. This was extremely risky, if he wasn't fast enough the second soldier could get away and sound the alarm. This was the only way however, as the plan was on a tight timetable. Kruloc sighed as he fired. The spikes hit the first man in the head, killing him instantly. Kruloc took careful aim at the second man, as the corpse fell. He could see his target running away, as he fired again. He briefly thought he had missed, but then the man fell dead. Kruloc broke from cover, and took time to conceal the bodies. He didn't want any surprises. He then made his way back to where he had left the others.

Spike got into one of the trucks which had been 'acquired' for transportation of all the demons that made up his army. He was grinning in anticipation of the massive ruck that awaited him at the base. He had been slightly worried about the invitation rule, until Vr'al explained that in order to do the Cha Noken ritual the humans would have to give up that protection. He put his head out the window of the truck and looked around. Everything seemed to be set. "Right! Let's roll!" Spike shouted. He then started the engine and drove out.

When Kruloc got back, he knew he had trouble on his hands. Alyssa was on top of Sean enthusiastically beating the living crap out of him. The Fyarl demon was standing around laughing at them. Kruloc sighed and moved over to Alyssa and Sean. After receiving several punches and kicks from both sides, he eventually managed to separate them. Kruloc glared irately at both at them. "I will say this once only. I don't give a living damn about you two. What I do care about is the mission. I have not failed a contract yet, and I don't intend to now. If either of you two starts anything, I assure you that you will be hurt severely. Have I made myself understood?"

Sean nodded slowly. Alyssa glowered banefully before nodding. Kruloc realised then he would have to keep a close watch on her, as her hatred for Sean was impairing her judgement. He kept his face impassive. "The base is just ahead. Let's complete this mission and get out." And so Kruloc led them to the base…

Sean looked around the area of the base he was in. "It's all dead round here, and I don't see where I've to set the explosives."

Kruloc replied in his explaining voice. "It's quiet round here because this isn't the main part of the base. Most of the humans are in the main part where Spike and his army need to break in quickly to stop the ritual, or they'll be bogged down in fighting which means we all die thanks to Cha Noken. That's the building there where you'll set the explosives. It has the back-up generators for the base." Kruloc pointed to an unremarkable building to his left.

Sean felt his eyes boggle. "How do you know that's got generators?"

Kruloc shrugged. "It was on the plans."

Sean now had a bemused expression on his face. "I thought all these base plans were supposed to be top secret?"

Kruloc answered him. "Apparently Spike recruited a hacker."

"Oh that's alright then." Sean replied weakly.

They entered the building carefully, in case it was guarded. It wasn't, but they managed to trip an alarm. The siren wailed noisily. The Fyarl demon managed to drop the explosives. Fortunately they didn't go off. After everyone picked themselves out of the cover which they had dived into, Sean set to work aware they didn't have much time now. Kruloc got the Fyarl demon to barricade the door, by using Fyarl demon's prodigious strength. Alyssa looked for another way out. Sean punched the air as he finally connected the wires and set the timer to the bombs... About the same the time sounds of attempted forced entry came from the font door.

Alyssa came back. "There is a window out back, just big enough to get through." She confided to Kruloc and Sean.

"The bombs will be going off sharpish. I set them for five minutes." Sean added.

"Right everyone through the window." Kruloc said, making his way to the window. Kruloc then shot some spikes to smash in the glass in the window before diving through it. Alyssa did the same. Sean was halfway through when Alyssa turned round and smiled sweetly at him. "Not you." She said, whacking him in the face as hard as she possibly could. Sean fell back into the room stunned, as Alyssa and Kruloc made a run for it.

The Fyarl demon shouted. "Can I let go now?" The building exploded into white-hot flame.

Kruloc was still running, as was Alyssa. He slowed down. "I think we're clear."

"What happens now?" Alyssa asked.

"That's up to Spike, but hell I haven't felt this good in a long time." Kruloc smiled and began to laugh. After a while Alyssa joined him.

Nils grabbed one of the soldiers that were running around in panic. "Report soldier!" He barked. "Sir! Yes Sir! An alarm was set off in the northern quadrant, a squad was sent to investigate. There was an explosion and we lost contact." The young looking soldier replied. 

Nils breathed out slowly. "A demon attack… Quickly take sixty men and hold the northern quadrant."

The soldier looked at him carefully. "Sir, are you sure? That's over half the men here."

"You have your orders." Nils replied.

"Sir! Yes sir!" The soldier clicked his heels and left.

Spike was driving along. He had heard it go off, and by now the humans should have reacted to it. His small convey of trucks were approaching a checkpoint at the base. A solitary guard flagged them down. Spike stopped the truck. "Who the hell are you?" The guard demanded.

Spike looked at him. "Well you see we live round here and we thought we'd welcome you to the neighbourhood. Spike looked at the guard again. "Oh sod it. Always time for a quick one." Spike reached out the truck window and grabbed the guard. He then pulled the guard through the window into the truck. The truck then rocked briefly, before the guard's dead body was flung out. The convoy carried on, heading for the main building.

The two sentries at the main complex were deep in conversation, speculating about the explosion earlier. So they didn't notice the truck convoy until it was almost on top of them. They then had to dart out of the way as the lead truck smashed into the building entrance. A blond vampire, wearing its vamp face, then exited the truck. Then the rest of the convoy stopped and lots of demons disgorged themselves from the vehicles. The blond vampire spoke. "Right let's kill these bloody wankers then." The sentries were powerless against the tide of demons that rushed into the building.

Lucy and her acolytes kept chanting and performing the rituals that would invoke the Cha Noken, oblivious to anything outside their chamber.

Nils heard the alarms and knew everything had gone to hell. These alarms meant that the demons had penetrated the building. He hoped without much conviction that it was nothing but a false alarm. A grim-faced soldier entered his room "Captain we're under attack from a demon force. We're holding them in the main hall but we can't contain them for much longer." Nils groaned. He knew this was his entire fault; he had fallen for the oldest trick in the book. But there still might be a way to retrieve the situation. He looked at the soldier. "Tell me, does there appear to be a leader?"

The soldier hesitated before answering. "They seem to be taking orders from a blond vampire in a leather jacket sir."

Nils nodded, knowing now what he must do. He picked up a stake, before leaving for the main hall. He hoped by killing the leader he could demoralise and delay the demon army until Cha Noken was completed.

Spike was having the time of his life. He had already accounted for several of the soldiers. Spike always did appreciate a good ruck. His demon army had already swept through most the building already. The advance had been temporarily stopped here by some determined and organised human resistance. The soldiers were using a wide range of weaponry, from guns to stakes. Spike was still confident that the humans couldn't last much longer; the demons had the advantage of numbers.

He took a minute to take in the tableau of battle. Vr'al was creating merry hell with his magic, until a burst of concentrated gunfire took him out. The furry demon that Spike had called Chewbacca was happily eating the face off a soldier. A couple of soldiers were holding a vampire down while a third staked him. There were lots of other mini-battles going on, that Spike couldn't make out. With a grin on his face he rejoined the fray.

A soldier launched a roundhouse kick at Spike's head. Spike caught the man's foot in both hands, pushed the man backwards so he fell. Spike stepped quickly in, and then stamped down hard on the man's throat, killing him. He was about to move on when he spotted the dead man had a gun. He picked it up laughing and began shooting.

Nils had spotted the blond vampire the soldier had identified as the leader. The vampire had his back to him, but he had a gun which made him doubly dangerous. Nils made his way stealthy behind him…

Spike was having fun with the gun, felling eight before some sixth sense made him turn round. He could see a man with a stake who had been trying to sneak up on him. Spike knew instinctually this was somebody important to the humans. Spike grinned and pointed the gun at the man's head. He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. He was out of bullets. He threw the gun away. "Always did prefer the personal touch anyway". 

Nils had frozen when he had seen the gun pointed at him, his life really had flashed before his eyes. But now the vampire's words had galvanised him into action. He launched a punch which caught the vampire by surprise by its speed. Nils then kicked the vampire as hard as he could in the stomach, the force of it made the vampire stagger back then fall over. Scenting the kill Nils followed up, sending the stake down to where the vampire's heart would be…

Spike couldn't believe he was losing to a single human who wasn't the slayer. This wasn't going to his mental script. Never the less he retained enough presence of mind to grab the man's arm to stop him from staking his heart. Spike looked up disdainfully. "Not bad old man. Now let's show you how it's done." Spike then wrenched the stake out of the man's hand. Keeping his grip on him, Spike yanked Nils to his knees. Spike with an air of finality then rammed the stake into Nils' chest. "How does that sodding_ feel?"_

Nils looked down at the crimson mess his chest had become now. He knew he was dying. He looked up at the vampire "Lucy…" That was the last word Nils ever spoke, before leaving this world for another. The tide had irrevocably gone against the humans

In the chamber Lucy sensed there was something terribly wrong, but she continued with the ritual. It would soon be finished. The greatest service to mankind.

Spike stood outside the place where he was sure the ritual was taking place. Trouble was the door was locked and it looked pretty solid. A small cadre of demons had followed him. Spike noticed Marco was among them. He walked over to him, picked him up and threw him at the door headfirst.

Lucy was on the final sentence of the ritual, when she became distracted by a loud noise and what appeared to be a man flying into the centre of room. She hurriedly tried to complete the sentence but she was too late. The ritual had been disrupted. A blond vampire walked into the room smiling innocently. He spoke gleefully. "I'm sorry; make you lose your place?"

Spike moved further into the room, the other demons following him. The humans looked at them fearfully except one woman who had salt and pepper hair. Spike grinned at her. "Love to stay and chat, but I've got places to go, people to kill." The demons started killing the acolytes. The woman started to what Spike thought was mumbling. If it hadn't been for Marco running towards Spike, wanting him dead, Spike would have been consumed by the jet of flame the woman conjured. He looked down at Marco's ashes, then back up at her. "Bet you're popular in the barbecue season." The woman ignored Spike and began chanting again. He knew he couldn't get to her in time. Unless…

Spike began to walk to her nonchalantly. "He's dead you know Lucy." He kept walking to her. Lucy stopped chanting, an expression of grief on her face. Spike smiled as he continued "Gave me a fair old whack before he went down, I'll give him that. Your name was the last word on his lips. You must have been special to him."

Lucy felt a tear form in her eye before she realised what the vampire was doing. He was distracting her so he could get close. She resumed the chanting.

Spike knew she was too late as he dived on top of her. Spike held her tight. To her credit she still struggled against him. "Go to hell!" She spat at him.

He looked at her. "Ladies first." He replied sinking his fangs into her neck. Cha Noken was truly over.

It was the night after. Every human on the base were either dead or dying. There had been one of one of the biggest demon parties that Spike could remember, and he could remember a few. But now he was getting ready to leave. Kruloc had already left, saying he had a target in Las Vegas. Somebody who had upset a lot of people he said. Spike thought that bloody obvious.

He hadn't seen much of Alyssa, though as he left he heard footsteps behind him. It was Alyssa. "I'm going to New York. You're welcome to come." She said.

He kept walking. "I'm off to Sunnydale."

"What's in Sunnydale?" Alyssa demanded.

Spike grinned like the demon he was. "I got me a Slayer to kill!"

The End

Author's Note

A ruck is British slang for a fight.


End file.
